


The Button

by SakuraKatana



Category: Hannibal (TV), Hannibal Lecter Series - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Humor, Origin Story, Will You Press The Button?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-08
Updated: 2013-10-08
Packaged: 2017-12-28 19:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/995907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SakuraKatana/pseuds/SakuraKatana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How did Hannibal Lecter become the fancy cannibal we know? One day, as a young man, he was faced with a horrible choice...<br/>100% guaranteed better origin story than "Hannibal Rising."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Button

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so I wrote this fic literally minutes after seeing this post: http://firedrakesmaug.tumblr.com/post/63395629031  
> Check it out for context, and/or visit willyoupressthebutton.com

Hannibal Lecter regained consciousness in a pitch black room. He felt his heart start to race and forced himself to take deep breaths. Where was he? Who had brought him there, and why?

A deep voice from across the room said, “Rise, Hannibal Lecter.”

Hannibal stood cautiously. “Who are you? What’s going on?”

A single spotlight turned on suddenly. It illuminated a grey table with a red button on top of it, the kind of button usually reserved for emergencies on spaceships. A man in a blue suit stood behind the table. The man said, in the deep voice that had spoken before, “Come forward.”

Hannibal came forward to the table.

“Hannibal Lecter,” the man said, “You have been chosen to be part of a grand experiment, the results of which could change your life forever. All you have to do for us is make one choice. If you press this button, you will become the richest, most famous human on earth, and nobody will question anything you do. However, you will only consume human blood and meat.”

Hannibal reached forward and pressed the button.

The man in the blue suit blinked a few times. Hannibal looked at him.

“Wow,” the man said. “Wow, you chose really fast. You really did not have to think about that at all. I don’t think anybody’s actually pressed the button on that one before. I’m suddenly rethinking this whole experiment.”

“May I go now?”

“Look, we don’t really do second chances on this thing, but I’m going to let you try that again. Please listen very carefully. If you press this button, you will become – okay. Okay, you pressed it again. You’re barely even making a facial expression about it. Wow.”

“May I go now?” Hannibal repeated.

“Uh, yeah. I guess.” 

Another spotlight shone on the wall, revealing a door.

“Thank you,” Hannibal said, and walked out. 

The man in the blue suit stood there in the room for a while, even after the spotlight over him turned off.

And that’s it. That’s the origin story of Hannibal the Cannibal. Some of you might be thinking, “Wait, I thought the Lecter origin story had something to do with Nazis?” Well, you thought right. The guy operating the spotlight’s dad was in the Luftwaffe. Pretty crazy, huh?


End file.
